Mamma Mia – The Ultimate Abba Tribute

Last year I mentioned how after years in the wilderness I finally became an ABBA fan. Well, I spent this weekend in London with some good friends and went to a show called Mamma Mia.

To digress slightly, when I saw Quentin Tarrantino’s classic Pulp Fiction for the first time in the cinema, I knew absolutely nothing about it. I hadn’t seen a single trailer, didn’t know anything of the plot and didn’t even know who was in it (I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw then-time has-been John Travolta in it). And you know what? Not knowing anything about it and having no idea what to expect made the film 10 times better. As a result I try not to watch trailers for films – I prefer to go in with a clean slate and an open mind.

And so it was with Mamma Mia. I suspected it might be the story of ABBA in the format of a musical (I did at least know it was something to do with ABBA). I pictured scenes like the band trying to get a record deal and bursting into “Money money money…” at the drop of a hat. My preconceptions turned out to be quite wrong. It was in fact a story completely unrelated to the history of iconic band ABBA, it was about a girl living in Greece with her mother, about to get married, trying to figure out who her father is. And of course, the cast kept bursting into song and – you guessed it – every song was an ABBA classic!

It really was excellent. It was funny, emotional, entertaining, the dancing was excellent, the singing, the acting spot on, I really had a great time and thought it was superb. I’m the world’s worst celebrity spotter so I couldn’t tell you who was who (although I gather a good portion of the cast have been in The Bill* at some point) but they did a great job. If you’re even the slightest ABBA fan – which you will be, everybody loves ABBA – I’d highly recommend you go if you get the chance. I haven’t been able to stop their songs floating around my head since and that’s the way I intend keeping it!

* – Interesting note about the classic long-running British TV show The Bill. I used to watch it back in the 80’s and 90’s in the day of DI Burnside (or was it Sideburns?) and Tosh Lines and loved it. When I went to Australia last year imagine my surprise when it turns out that The Bill is extremely popular over there! They brought us Neighbours and we return the favour with the Bill – it’s a strange world.

the bill has been running for years
its seen more as a show for old people, who people who are home during the day (and dont watch the bold and the bueatiful and whatnot)
most people like it, most people dont watch it
its a good show though

yeah, it is a shame, because it is a good show
the other problem being its on the ABC, which while it has a lot of great shows, isnt marketed as much and isnt as ‘trendy’ i guess you would call it.
it doesnt have all the really popular shows like Big brother, survivor, (country) idol etc
oh, and ABC tends to air a lot of your shows shuch as father ted, black books, coupling and more along that vein (most of which I have on my computer 😀 )
so unfortunatly while being a great channel, the ABC doesnt appeal to the masses